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Note: Page numbers beyond 210 refer to notes.
Abyssinia (Ethiopia):
business opportunities in, 147, 148, 151–53, 166, 187
and Du Bois, 186
Ellis’s trips to, 146–53, 157–58, 198
and Italy, 146
and Kent Loomis, 153–55, 183–84
and Menelik II, 146–53, 157, 166, 184
musical comedy about, 159–60
and pan-African identity, xxviii, 149
and Skinner, 150–51, 153
and Sylvain, 148–49, 152
treaty of commerce with, 153, 154, 155, 157, 183–84, 185
Adams, A. A., 108
Africa:
cotton in, 147
Ellis’s interest in, 147
Mexican slaves from, 13
Pan-African Conference (1900), 149, 152
pan-African identity, xxviii, 149
Second Middle Passage from, 5
slavery in, 148
tropical climate of, 104–5
US blacks relocating to, 73–74, 85, 87–88, 93–94, 105, 149
African Americans:
and antimiscegenation laws, 48
and Atlanta compromise, 121–22
Black Codes, 37–39, 42
and black theater, 158–61
and the blues, 58
and changing racial scene, xix–xx, 68, 157, 194–97
civil rights for, 75, 103, 199
and colonization schemes, 73–76, 82, 85, 86–89, 93–94, 98, 102–5, 115, 159
and cotton farms, 76
discrimination in employment and housing, 131–32, 165
and Emancipation, xx, 36, 49, 76, 225–26
emigration of, 76, 91–93, 94, 105–11, 119
and Harlem Renaissance, 145
and Jim Crow, xvii–xviii, xxii, xxviii, 57, 58
lynching, xxiii, 108, 198–99
menial positions for, 68–69
New Negro Movement, 145
in New York, 144–45
African Americans (continued)
passing for white, xxii–xxiii, xxvii–xxviii, 58, 59–60, 62–63, 72, 98–99, 122, 133, 138–46, 156–57, 158, 160, 163, 184–85, 193, 194–200, 243
poverty of, 75–76
and racial identity, xxviii, 48–49, 60, 106, 135, 157, 200
and Reconstruction, 36, 37–41, 45, 49, 69, 70, 109
schools for, 49, 50
sharecroppers, 40, 87, 104, 109, 118
and slavery, see slavery
tricksters, xxvii–xxviii, 144, 160, 186, 197, 199–201
Turner’s convention for, 86–90, 93
US citizenship for, 135–36
US dependence on labor of, 103–4
voters, 75
see also race
Afro-American Colonization Association, 82
A la orilla de un palmar (At the Edge of a Palm Grove) [film], 191
Alger, Horatio, 3, 4
American Colonization Society, 73–74, 87
anarchists, vigilance against, xvii
Apache tribes, raiding parties, 14, 53
Appeal, 156–57
Armour and Company, 125
Asian laborers, vigilance against, xvi–xvii
Atlanta compromise, 121–22
Aztec Limited, xv–xviii
Aztec people, 78
“badger game,” 137–38
Bagby, Arthur P., 31
Baily, J. A., 89
Baldwin, Louis Fremont, 139
From Negro to Caucasian, xxiv, 62–63
ballet folklórico, 191
Baltimore Sun, xviii
barbed wire, 48
Barnes, Charles, 40
Batonyi, Aurel, 137
Battle, George Gordon, 140–41
Battle of Adwa, 146
Bayard, Thomas F., 43
Black and Tan clubs, 142
Black Codes, 37–39, 42
blackface (in theater performances), 160
Blackmore, Florencia, 166
Blake, Elena, 166
boll weevil, 119–20
boodler (embezzler), 99–100
Broad Axe (Chicago), 185
Brown, Albert Gallatin, 9
Brown, Dolores, 21
Bruce, John Edward, 152
Bureau of Investigation (later FBI), 177–78
California, civil rights in, 189–90
“Camp Jenner,” 113–14, 115, 239
Cananea Consolidated Copper Company, 168
Caribbean immigration, 54–55, 81
Carnegie, Andrew, 158
Carranza, Venustiano, 174, 175, 176, 180
Casas Alatriste, Roberto, 181
Central America, and US expansionism, 16
Charley’s Aunt (Broadway play), 133
Cherokee people, removal of, 5
Chesnutt, Charles, xxii
Chicago Defender, 185
child labor, 225–26
Civil War, US, 30–31, 32, 34–37, 41–43
Cleveland, Grover, 112, 199
Coahuila y Tejas, Mexico, 14, 16
Cobb, Henry, 162
Colored Mexican Colonization Company, 82
Comanche tribes:
in Mexico, 30, 94–95
raiding parties, 14, 23, 96, 97, 109
Comarca Lagunera, Mexico, 94–97, 106, 118, 168–69, 170, 235
Commerce and Labor, US Department of, xvi–xvii
Confederate States of America, 30–31, 42
Consumer Price Index, 218
Continental Palo Amarillo Rubber Company, 170
Cortina, Juan, 29–30, 32, 51, 53, 81, 112
Costa Rica, investment possibilities in, 178–79
cotton:
in Africa, 147
and boll weevil, 119–20
and child labor, 225–26
growth cycle of, 84
industry technology for, 95–96
Mexican, 28–29, 83, 95–96, 98, 103
and racial issues, 76, 121
and slavery, 5, 8, 49
in Texas, 6, 8–10, 15, 25–28, 47, 50, 60
in US South, 95
Cotton States and International Exposition (1895), 120–22
Couttolenc Cruz, José María, 80
Crisis, 185–86
Cromwell, Alex Jr., 38
Cromwell, Martin, 38, 41
Crow, Moses R., 138
Cuba:
Eliseo/Ellis’s story in, 4, 132–33, 134–35, 136, 138, 156, 184, 186, 193, 198, 199
émigrés in US, 134
independence movement in, 136
and race identity, 62, 135, 136
slavery in, 219
slaves from, 21
social extremes in, 132–33, 134
and Spanish-American War, 134
trade with, 121
and US expansionism, 8–9, 16, 134
Cuney, Jennie, 69
Cuney, Maud, 72, 164
Cuney, Norris Wright, 69–73, 75, 85, 86, 122, 164, 184, 198
Cuney, Philip Minor, 69
Dalrymple, W. C., 37–38, 43
Davis, Jefferson, 35
Delafond, Elias, 167
De La Garza, Carlos, 25, 220
Delany, Martin, 82
De León, Fernando, 24, 25
De León, Frank, 25
De León, Martín, 23–24
De León, “Sil,” 31
De León family, 47
Denver, Brown Palace Hotel in, 125
Denver Evening Post, xviii
Díaz, Felix, 169, 170, 173
Díaz, Porfirio, 136, 138
armed rebellion against, 172–73
and colonization contracts, 76, 78–86, 103
and cotton industry, 95–96
and the economy, 52, 167–69
and modernization, 52, 96, 100, 121
politics of, 80
Díaz, Porfirio (continued)
and Porfiriato, see Porfiriato
and railroads, 53
rise to power, 94–95, 147
and US War Department, 51–52
Díez Gutiérrez, Pedro, 80
Doheny, Edward, 172
Don Cosme (melodrama), xxiii–xxiv
Douglas, Ann, 145
Douglass, Frederick, 75, 82
Du Bois, W. E. B., 131, 157, 197
and Crisis, 186
The Souls of Black Folk, 149, 199
Durón González, Gustavo, 196
Eagle Pass, Texas, border crossing at, xv–xvii, xviii, xxi, xxviii, 112
Eaton, W. L., 111
Edward Butts Manufacturing Company, 130
Edward VII, king of England, 146
Eliseo, Carlos, 4, 142, 150
Eliseo, Guillermo Enrique:
biographical stories about, 3–5, 130, 183, 197
border crossings by, xvii–xviii, xxi, xxviii, 101, 161
Ellis’s reinvention as, 63–64, 118, 125, 126, 132–33, 142–43, 161, 186, 198
newspaper stories about, xviii, xix, 183, 184, 186
Eliseo, Marguerita Nelsonia, 4
Ellis, Avalonia (sister), 45, 61
Ellis, Carlos Sherwood (son), 164, 166
Ellis, Charles (father), 5–8, 19, 45–46, 68, 164–65, 172, 183
Ellis, Elizabeth Reina (sister), 28, 40, 45, 46, 149, 158, 203
Ellis, Fannie (sister), 45, 46, 61, 69, 158, 165, 166, 182, 198
Ellis, Fernando Demetrio “Bill” (son), 164, 190, 191, 192, 203
Ellis, Guillermo Enrique Jr. “Ermo” (son), 162, 163–64, 166, 187–88, 190, 192
Ellis, Hezekiah (brother), 45, 69
Ellis, Hezekiah (poss. grandfather), 7, 45, 215
Ellis, Isabella (sister), 45, 139, 140, 143
Ellis, Margaret Nelson (mother), 28, 32, 45, 183
Ellis, Mary (grandmother), 5–8, 19, 46
Ellis, Maude Sherwood (wife), 162, 165, 190
marriage of William and, 141–44, 145–46, 193
and William’s death, 182–83, 186–88
Ellis, Maude Victoria “Vicky” (daughter), 164, 190, 191, 192, 193, 204
Ellis, Peter (grandson), 192–93
Ellis, Porfirio Diaz (son), 164, 187
Ellis, Sherwood (son), 164, 187, 190, 191, 192
Ellis, William (uncle), 5–8, 19, 45–46, 69
Ellis, William Henry:
ambivalent relationship to US, 151, 152–53
birth and background of, xx, xxv, 5–8, 26, 32, 183, 185, 197
and black theater, 158–61
in census tallies, 162, 248
childhood of, 34, 40
children of, 163–66
colonization schemes of, 75–76, 77, 79–86, 87, 89, 93–94, 98, 103, 105–8, 115–19, 151–52, 153, 159, 164, 172, 184
and Costa Rica, 178–79
death of, 182–88, 197
double life of, 73, 84–86, 98–99, 101–2, 106, 137–38, 155–56, 158, 161
as Eliseo, see Eliseo, Guillermo Enrique
in Ethiopia, xxviii, 147–53, 157–58, 166, 184, 198
and finances, 103, 126, 129–31, 138, 151, 166–67, 169–72, 176, 179, 187–88, 192
free-port scheme of, 175, 180–81
government investigations of, 176–78
health problems of, 181–82
interviews with, 105–6, 119, 134–35
jobs held by, 60–61
language ability of, 46–47, 48, 60, 150, 156
legal battles of, 166–67
life of mysteries, xxv, 99, 126, 129–30, 155–56, 158, 159, 161, 183, 197–98
marriage to Maude, 141–44, 145–46, 193
in Mexico City, xxvi, 101–2, 130–31, 167, 169, 182
obituaries of, 183–87
passing for white, xxii–xxiii, xxvii–xxviii, 58, 59–60, 61–64, 72, 83, 98–99, 106, 122, 132, 133, 135, 138–46, 155, 156–59, 160, 165, 177, 182, 184–85, 186, 192–93, 199–200, 243
and photographs, 164–65, 172
public speaking by, 198
resilience of, 90, 158
and revolution in Mexico, 173–74
sartorial style of, 101, 166
self-invention of, xx–xxi, xxvi–xxvii, 3–5, 26, 48, 60–61, 63–64, 82–83, 126, 131–34, 136, 141, 142, 151, 155–56, 161
as a slave, xxv, 5–7, 32
in Texas politics, 70–73, 84, 86–87, 198
and Turner’s convention, 88–89, 93
wary of strangers, 177–78, 188
Ellis family, 44–49
brought as slaves to Texas, 5–9
in California, 189–90
and census (1870), 19; (1870), 44-45, 47, 48; (1880), 46, 47, 48
in Mexico, 190–93, 197
and photographs, 164–65
property bought by, 45–46
racial identity of, 19, 48–49, 121, 156, 164–65, 189, 198
reunion of, 203–4
in San Antonio, 61, 63, 143, 156
splintering of, 188–93
surname adopted by, 45
in Victoria, Texas, 26, 28, 37, 39, 44, 47, 49
William’s contacts with, 139, 185
and William’s death, 187, 188
see also specific family members
El peñón de las ánimas (The Rock of Souls) [film], 191
Emancipation, xx, 36, 49, 76, 225–26
Escalera De León, Doña Luz, 9
Escobedo, Mariano, 53
Estarñez, Carlos Eliséo, 188–89; see also Starnes, Charles
Ethiopia (Abyssinia):
business opportunities in, 147, 148, 151–53, 166, 187
and Du Bois, 186
Ellis’s trips to, 146–53, 156–58, 166, 184, 198
and Italy, 146
and Kent Loomis, 153–55, 183–84
and Menelik II, 146–53, 157, 166, 184
musical comedy about, 159–60
and pan-African identity, xxviii, 149
and Skinner, 150–51, 153
and Sylvain, 148–49, 152
treaty of commerce with, 153, 154, 155, 157, 183–84, 185
Fall, Albert, 174–75, 177, 180
Farjas, José, 95
Fauset, Jessie, 145
FBI, see Bureau of Investigation
Félix, María, 191
Ferguson, Charles, 76–77
Ferguson, Henry:
and colonization project, 76, 80, 81, 82–86, 87, 102, 164
and Jaybirds, 76–77
and Texas politics, 86–87
Fernández Castello, Luis, 169
Fernández, Justino, 169
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, xv–xviii
Fifteenth Amendment, 39
filibustering, 16, 133
Flores Magón brothers, 177
Fontura, Xavier, 162
Fourteenth Amendment, 39
France:
and Maximilian, 31, 32, 50
and Mexico, 41–44, 52
and US Civil War, 41–42
Freedmen’s Bureau, 36, 38, 39, 49, 69
Fugitive Slave Act (1850), 10
Gadsden Purchase (1854), 16
Garvey, Marcus, 195
Gaxiola, Ignacio P., 180
Germans, name changes of, 144
Gilded Age:
black theater in, 158–61
espionage and neutrality acts in, 177
government records in, 163–64
and Porfiriato, 126
racial issues in, xxii, xxiv, 85, 104, 144, 163, 185, 195–97
rags-to-riches tales in, xxvi, 3, 5
shapeshifting in, xxvii–xxviii, 5, 144
and Woodlawn Cemetery, 143–44
Gillow, Thomas, 101
González Flores, Alfredo, 178–79
“Gopher John” (escaped slave), 17
Granger, Gordon, 35–36
Grant, Ulysses S., 32, 41
Gregory, Edgar M., 36
Griggs, Sutton E., 240
Guadalupe River, 9, 23
Guam, US invasion of, 134
Guerrero, Vicente, 14, 15
habeas corpus, filings for, 21
Hampton, Wade, 85
Harlem Renaissance, 145
Hawaii:
Ellis’s story about, 133, 154, 156, 193, 198, 199
US acquisition of, 133
Hay, John, 134
Haywood, Felix, 11
Hemmings, Anita Florence, 139–40, 157, 160
Hidalgo, Miguel, 14, 18
Hogan, Ernest, 158
Hotchkiss Arms Company, 130–31, 169
Hotchkiss estate, 138, 141, 142
Houck, Leon, 57
Houck, Lola, 56–58, 59
Huerta, Victoriano, 173–74, 176, 180
Hughes, Langston, xxii, xxvii, 59, 139, 199
Huntington, Collis P., 4, 99, 144
Hyde, Lewis, xxvii
In Abyssinia (musical comedy), 159–60
Indians:
communal lands of, 55
indigenismo, 191
Mexican citizenship of, 14
Indian Territory, Trail of Tears to, 5
International Migration Company, 105
Irigoyen, Mercedes, 192
Irish, name changes of, 144
Italians:
name changes of, 144
passing as, xxiv
Italy:
and Battle of Adwa, 146
emigration from, 78–79
Jamaica, 54
Jamestown, first slave ship at, 13
Jannath, Heba, xxvii, 144, 145
Jaybirds, 76–77
Jes Lak White Fo’ks (musical), 160
Jews:
name changes of, 144
passing for Spaniards, 144
Jim Crow, xvii–xviii, xxii, xxviii, 57, 58
Johnson, Andrew, 37, 39
Johnson, James Weldon, 131
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, xxvii, 186, 198
passing for white, 59
Johnson-Reed Immigration Act, 196
J. P. Morgan & Company, 131, 171
Juárez, Benito, 32, 42, 44, 51
Kaiser Wilhelm II, 154
Kansas City Star, xviii
Katz, Friedrich, xxi
Kennedy, A. G., 73
Kipling, Rudyard, 186
Kratz, Charles, 100
La Compañía Agrícola Limitada del Tlahualilo, 94–97, 103; see also Tlahualilo Corporation
Lancáster Jones, Alfonso, 80
Langberg, Emilio, 17
Larsen, Nella, Passing, xxii, 156
Latin America:
black immigration to, 82, 85
Eliseo’s story in, xxiii–xxv, 132–33, 138, 198
Mexican constitution as model for, 175
Mexican identification with (latinidad), 52–53, 78–79, 100, 117, 120
and race identity, 135
tropical climate of, 104–5
and US expansionism, 120
Lee, Robert E., 30, 32, 35
Lerdo de Tejada, Sebastián, 51
Liberia:
African Americans relocated to, 94, 105
colonists’ return to US from, 116, 122
Lily Whites, 70–71, 73, 85
Limantour, José Yves, 78, 167, 172
Lincoln, Abraham, 150
Linn, Edward, 24
Linn, John “Juan,” 24
Littmann, Enno, 150
Llamedo, Juan:
and colonists from US, 107, 117
and irrigation, 95
and Tlahualilo Corporation, 97–98, 102–3, 117, 119, 128
Loomis, Francis, 150, 153, 154, 155
Loomis, Kent J., 153–56, 158, 159, 183–84
Lopez, Joseph, 47
Los Angeles, founding of, 190
Los Angeles Times, xix
Love, Andrew Jackson, 140
lynchings, xxiii, 108, 198–99
Maceo, Antonio, 134, 136
MacKintosh, Enrique G., 171, 172, 173
Madero, Francisco, 168–69, 170, 172–73
Magruder, George M., 113
Mahon, Martin, 137
Makonnen, Ras, 146
Malby Law (1895), 131
Manning and MacKintosh claim, 171–72, 173, 183, 187
Mantz, Dillman, 45
Marine Hospital Service, 113, 115, 121
Mariscal, Ignacio, 79, 131
Mascogos (Seminoles), 16–17, 30
Massey-Gilbert Blue Book of Mexico, The, 102
Matamoros, Mexico, 31–32, 35
Maxey, Thomas S., 135–36
Maximilian, “emperor” of Mexico:
and ex-Confederate states, 35, 42, 43
execution of, 44
French installation of, 31, 32, 50
and Mexico City, 100
McAdoo, William, 142
McKinley, J. Frank, 72
McNamara, William, 60–61
McNeel, P. D., 11
Menelik II, emperor of Ethiopia, xxviii, 146–53, 157, 158, 159–60, 166, 184
Mexican Americans, and changing racial scene, xix–xx
Mexican Coffee-Cotton Colonization Company, 83
Mexican International Railroad Company, 112
Mexican Securities and Construction Company, 171
Mexico:
Afro-Mexican population, 79, 191–92, 196
civil war in, 41–44
constitution of, 17–18, 175, 179
cotton from, 28–29, 50, 83, 95–96, 98, 103
cultural tradition in, 53–54
debt-peonage system in, 109
diseases contracted in, 110–14, 117, 118, 121
economy of, 52, 68, 167–72, 173–74, 179
Eliseo’s story in, 132–33, 198, 199
free-port scheme in, 175, 180–81
French presence in, 41–44, 52
hydroelectric dams in, 170–71, 172, 176, 187
immigration and colonization in, 53–54, 76, 77–86, 91–93, 98, 103, 105, 107–9, 111, 115–19, 122, 172
independence of, 13–14, 52, 172, 192
Indian roots (indigenismo) in, 191
laborers from, 22
“Latin” identity in (latinidad), 52–53, 78–79, 100, 117, 120
mestizaje in, 55, 191–92, 196, 200
modernization in, 52, 54, 94, 96, 100, 121, 167, 171
mutual interests of US and, xxvi, 52–53, 111, 119, 120–22, 126–31, 133, 179, 197
natural resources of, 179
oil in, 172
passing for white in, xxiii–xxiv, 59, 99, 135, 192, 193, 197
Plan of San Luis Potosí, 172–73
Porfiriato in, 52, 53, 68, 77, 94
property ownership in, 175, 176
public perceptions of, 104
racial categories in, 14–15, 195
racial issues in, xvii, xxviii, 14, 55, 79–80, 103, 116–17, 135–36, 191, 195–97
“radical socialism movement” in, 177
railroads in, xv–vii, 15, 16, 53, 54, 59, 68, 90, 110
ranching in, 68
revolutions in, xxvi, 169, 172–77, 178, 179, 188, 191, 200
rubber plantations in, 129, 170, 172
runaway slaves in, 10–13, 16–19, 50
slavery in, 13–14, 42
slavery prohibited in, 17–18, 175
social extremes in, 132–33
tensions between US and, 50–52, 125
trade with, 67–68, 121, 128, 167
US border with, xv–xvi, xix, xxi–xxii, 26, 52, 60, 81, 90, 99–100, 112–14, 161, 172, 176–77, 193, 195, 196, 200
and US citizenship requirements, 135–36
and US expansionism, xxi, 8–9, 10, 16, 29–30
US investments in, 52–53, 111, 126–31, 168–71, 174, 176, 178, 179
War of Reform, 30, 31, 67
war with US (1846–1848), xxiv
Mexico and Toluca Light and Power Company, 171, 176, 187
Mexico City:
alameda in, 100–101
American Club in, 102
dance groups in, 190–91
Eliseo/Ellis’s business ventures in, 130–31, 167
Eliseo’s residence in, xxvi, 182
Ellis’s burial in, 187, 188, 197
Ellis’s family in, 190–91
population of, 100, 200
sophistication of, 101
Miller, Edward, 38
Milwaukee Sentinel, 186
Monroe Doctrine, 41
Montero, Francisco, 178
Moore, Fayne Strahan, 136–38, 140, 144
Moore, Fred R., 198
Moore, Richard, 190
Moore, William A. E., 137
Morelos, José María, 14, 15, 18
Mormons, migration of, 5
Mount Vernon, New York, 165–66, 187, 198, 201
Mount Vernon Argus, 183
NAACP, xxiii
National Zoo, Washington, DC, 157
Neely, William, 38
Negrete, Jorge, 191
Nelsonia, Marguerita, 142
Newman, Virginia, 21
New Negro Movement, 145
New South, 120
New York:
African American community in, 144–45
Black and Tan clubs in, 142
black theater in, 158–61
census (1905) in, 162, 248
discrimination in, 131–32
Ellis’s businesses in, 128–29, 131, 138, 146, 150, 166–67, 177
Ellis’s residence in, xxvi, 131, 143, 162
Harlem Renaissance in, 145
Horace Mann School in, 140
immigrants in, 144–45, 200–201
intermarriage in, 142
investment in Mexico, 128–30
race riot in, 142
segregation prohibited in, 131
Woodlawn Cemetery in, 143–44, 187
New York Age, 184, 187, 198
New York and Westchester Water Company, 138, 169
New York Sun, xviii
New York Times, 171
New York World, xviii
Niquet, Alberto, 167
Obregón, Alvaro, 175, 179, 180
Ohio River, 10
Olmedo, Cosme (fict.), xxiii
Olmsted, Frederick Law, 12, 25, 38
Orozco, José Clemente, 191
Otomí Indian communities, 79
Oyster Man, The (stage play), 158–59, 160
Pacheco, General Romualdo, 79, 80, 82, 86, 131, 164, 235
Pan-African Conference (1900), 149, 152
Panama, railroad across the isthmus, 125
Panama Canal, 125
Panic of 1893, 87
Peary, Robert E., 158
Peg-Leg Williams Law (1891), 93
Pershing, John J., 174
Philippines, US invasion of, 134
Piedras Negras, Mexico, 12, 17
Pimentel, Francisco, 79
Polomo Urrutia, Joseph, 13
Porfiriato:
and the economy, 52, 68, 167–69, 170
and Gilded Age, 126
and immigration, 77
and labor supply, 97
opponents of, 53, 177
and racial issues, 79, 191
sweeping changes in, 94, 96–97, 121
trade in, 112
see also Díaz, Porfirio
Porteous, James, 121
Poston, Lenious F., 111
Potter, James Brown, 128
Powell, Adam Clayton, 198
Prado, C. Amado, 97
Pridgen, H. M’Bride, 18
Puerto Rico, US invasion of, 134
race, 194–201
categories of, 14–15, 194–95, 199
and children, 139, 163–64
and colonization, 79–80, 105
and color line, xxi–xxii, 19, 101, 141, 144, 149, 151, 155, 195, 196, 197, 201
and cotton, 76, 121
creoles, 49
cultural markers of, 20–21
and Emancipation, xx, 36, 49, 76
“four types of mankind,” 121
greasers, 19
heightened difference in, 195–96
historic evolution of the concept of, xix–xx, 68, 157, 194–97, 201
intermarriage, 141–44
Jim Crow, xvii–xviii, xxii, xxviii
and lynchings, xxiii, 108, 198–99
maroons, 12, 16
mestizos, 55, 81, 121, 191, 196, 200, 201
morenos, 14
mulattoes, 8, 13, 14, 19–20, 48–49, 121, 194, 201
negros, 14
“one drop” rule, 194, 197
pardos, 14
passing for white, xxii–xxiii, xxvii–xxviii, 58, 59–60, 62–63, 72, 98–99, 122, 138–46, 156–57, 158, 160, 163, 184–85, 193, 194–200, 243
and quota system, 196
racial identity, xxviii, 19–25, 48–49, 60, 62, 86, 106, 121, 135, 136, 157, 164–65, 189, 198, 200
racial mixing, 19–20, 43–44, 48, 101, 141, 142, 143, 157, 195–96, 200–201
and segregation, xvii–xviii, xxi, 58–59, 87, 122, 131, 160
stereotypes of, 132
subjective judgments on, xvii–xviii, xxi–xxii, 19–21, 59, 62, 136, 157, 197, 200–201
and violence, 38, 40–41, 77, 118, 142
and white supremacy, xx, 104–5, 148, 152, 157
Rastus, Rufus (fict.), 158–59
Rayner, John B., 73
Reagan, John Henninger, 43
Reclamation Service, US, 95
Reconstruction, 37–41
blacks’ employment in, 45
failures of, 75, 118
freedmen in, 36, 37, 38, 39, 45, 49, 69, 70
race mixing in, 48
sharecroppers in, 40, 87, 104, 109, 118
Rejon, Manuel, 18
Revolution of Ayutla (1854), 30
R. G. Dun & Company, 130
Rio Grande/Río Bravo del Norte, xv–xvi, 51, 95, 200
Rivera, Diego, 191
Rodríguez, Ricardo, 135–36
Rolland, Modesto C., 180
Romero, Matías, 52, 55, 126–27
Roosevelt, Theodore, 150, 157, 158, 183, 198
Rowe, Chester T., 100
Rusby, Henry Hurd, 170
Russians, name changes of, 144
Salazar, Demetrio, 164, 169
San Antonio:
African Americans in, 68–69
Ellis family in, 61, 63, 143, 156
Military Plaza in, 68
race in, 122
transborder exchange in, 67–68
William’s business offices in, 61, 63–64, 100
William’s disappearance from, 146
Santa Anna, Antonio López de, 30
Sauer, Frances, 140–41
segregation, xvii–xviii, xxi, 58–59, 87, 122, 131, 160
Seminole Indians, 16–17
shapeshifting, xxvii–xxviii, 5, 144
sharecroppers, 40, 87, 104, 109, 118
Shaw, James Jr., 37
Sheridan, Philip, 43
Sherwood, Maude, 141–44; see also Ellis, Maude Sherwood
Siqueiros, David Alfaro, 191
Skinner, Robert P., 150–51, 153
slavery:
in Africa, 148
and census figures, 220
chattel, 13
and cotton, 5, 8, 49
in Cuba, 219
and Emancipation, xx, 36, 49, 76
end of, xx, xxi, 36, 49
fears of uprisings, 22–23
Fugitive Slave Act (1850), 10
Mexican prohibition of, 17–18, 175
on plantations, 68
and race, 20, 195
runaways, xxiv, 10–13, 15, 16–19, 20, 50, 216–17
and sexual exploitation, 7–8
and social boundaries, 20
transition to wage labor, xxviii
and US expansionism, 8–9, 16, 42, 196
and violence, 38
Smith, Kirby, 35
Spain:
and Cuba, 219
Mexican independence from, 13–14, 52, 172, 192
and race identity, 62
Spanish-American War, 134
Starnes, Charles, 149–50, 170
as Carlos Eliséo Estarñez, 188–89
Starnes, Greene, 46, 61, 63, 68, 149, 158, 189, 228
Starnes, Marguerite, 190
Starns, Carlos Eliseo/Charles Starnes, 149
State Department, US, 111
Stetson, Earlene, 199
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 10
Strahan, Fayne [Moore], 136–38, 140, 147
Strang, William, 162
Successful American, The, 164
Sweet, Leprelette, 167
Sylvain, Bénito, 148–49, 152
Taft, William Howard, 199
Tejanos:
and ethnic cleansing, 22, 23, 24, 29, 47, 67
and race identity, 19–25, 63, 86
in San Antonio, 132
and Texan revolt, 18, 24
and US Civil War, 31, 35
use of term, 9
in Victoria, Texas, 9, 23–25, 28, 31, 40, 47, 50
vs. slaveholding Texians, 19–25, 29
Texan Revolution (1835), 18, 24
Texas:
antimiscegenation laws in, 48
barbed wire in, 47–48
black politics in, 39–40
and Civil War, 31
color line in, 19, 68
cotton in, 6, 8–10, 15, 25–28, 47, 50, 60
Ellis family brought as slaves to, 5–9
Emancipation in, 36, 49
Freedmen’s Bureau in, 36, 38, 39, 49, 69
independence of, 21
oil in, 200
politics in, 70–73, 84, 86–87, 198
and public health issues, 112–14
race issues in, 62, 194
ranching in, 25, 47–48, 50
Reconstruction in, 37–41, 49, 69
secession of, 30–31
segregation in, xvii–xviii, 58–59
settlement of, 23
slavery in, xxiv, 8–12, 13, 15, 28, 38, 217
US annexation of, 8, 15, 51
and US Civil War, 31
Texas Rangers, 94
Thomas, David, 11–12
Thompson, Henry, 114
Time, 186
Tinoco, Federico, 178–79
Tlahualilo Corporation, 94–98
and Camp Jenner, 113–14, 115, 239
colonists’ return to US from, 109–14, 115–19
and colonization plans, 98, 102–3, 115, 116, 117–18, 122
competition with, 168
and disease, 110–12, 117, 118, 121
Ellis’s contract with, 98, 107, 118–19, 158, 159, 172
and financing, 102–3, 128
and irrigation, 95
and land reforms, 200
and Llamedo, 97–98, 102–3, 107, 117, 119, 128
US colonists in, 105, 106–9, 117
Todd, S. F., 108
Toomer, Jean, 145
Torreón, Mexico, 96–97, 111–12, 168
Towns, Peter/Pedro Tauns, 12
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 135–36
trickster, xxvii–xxviii, 144, 160, 186, 197, 199–201
Trollinger, Henry, 110
Turner, Henry McNeal, 69, 147, 184
African American convention of, 86–90, 93
and African American emigration, 73–74, 76, 93–94, 104, 122, 149, 198
and American Colonization Society, 73–74
Turner, John T., 88
Turner, Julia, 73
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 91, 93, 104, 105
Tuskegee Institute, 198
Twain, Mark, xxii
Una carta de amor (A Love Letter) [film], 191
Union League, 69, 70
United States:
border of Mexico and, xv–xvi, xix, xxi–xxii, 26, 52, 60, 81, 90, 99–100, 112–14, 160, 172, 176–77, 193, 195, 196, 200
business opportunities in, 151, 153
census in, 19, 44–45, 46, 47, 48, 162, 194–95, 220, 248
citizenship in, xx, 135–36
competition with Mexico, 77
dependence on black labor in, 103–4
diverse populations in, 81
emerging global presence of, 152
expansionism of, xxiv, 8–9, 10, 16, 29–30, 42, 44, 120, 133–34, 196
immigration legislation in, 196
irrigation and dam building in the West, 95
and Mexican instability, xxi
modernization in, 81
mutual interests of Mexico and, xxvi, 52–53, 111, 119, 120–22, 126–31, 179, 197
passports of, xvi
racial issues in, see African Americans; race
secession from, 30–31, 42
tensions between Mexico and, 50–52, 126
time zones in, 56
war with Mexico (1846–1848), xxiv
United States Colored Troops, 35, 36–37, 39
Universal Negro Improvement Association, 195
US Army Air Service, 174
US Border Patrol, 193, 196, 200
US War College, 174
Vasconcelos, José, La raza cósmica (The Cosmic Race), 195, 196
Vassar College, 139–40
“Vassar Girl, The” (song), 160
Victoria, Texas:
cotton in, 9–10, 15, 25, 26–28, 49, 50, 200
Ellis family in, 26, 28, 37, 39, 44–45, 47, 49
Ellis’s birthplace in, xxv, 32
Emancipation in, 36
property in, 50
railroads in, 56–59, 61
Victoria, Texas (continued)
ranching in, 26
Reconstruction in, 37–41
slaves in, 9, 15, 23–26, 28, 68
Tejanos in, 9, 23–25, 28, 31, 40, 47, 50
and US Civil War, 31
Victoria Cavalry Company, 31
Villa, Pancho, 19, 174, 176
Walker, George, 159
War Department, US, 51–52, 112
War of Reform, 30, 31, 67
Washburn, John, 109
Washington, Booker T., 121–22, 198
Weisiger, Daniel, 6, 25
Weisiger, Isabella, 6
Weisiger, Joseph, 6–7, 8, 9, 19, 25, 40, 224
Weisiger, Lucy, 6, 7
Weisiger, Reed, 50
Weisiger, Robert, 31, 40–41
Weisiger, William, 31
Weisiger plantation, 47–48
and barbed wire, 48
cotton grown on, 8, 9, 27, 48, 220–21
Ellis family on, 6–7, 19
move to Texas, 7, 8, 10, 15
other crops grown on, 215
and racehorse breeding, 146
ranching on, 25, 48
slaves on, 6–7, 8, 9, 15, 19, 22–23
slave uprising feared on, 22–23
US soldiers on, 34, 45
Werner, Ida, 162
Westchester County, New York, racial covenants in, 165
Wetmore, Judson Douglas, 186
W. H. Ellis & Co., 61
White, Walter, xxiii, 145
Wild Cat (Seminole), 16–17
Williams, Bert, 159, 160
Williams, Henry Sylvester, 149
Williams, John Jefferson, 35
Williams, “Peg-Leg,” 91–93, 103, 104, 106, 107, 109
Wilson, Woodrow, 173, 174
Witekammen, Clara, 162
Woodlawn Cemetery, New York, 143–44, 187
Zapata, Emiliano, 179